The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1887-07-21
CLEVELAND AND The SOLDIERS !
FUTILE ATTEMPT To MAKE THE GREAT
LUBBER APPEAR AS A STREwD
PoLITICIAN

When President Cleveland's scheme
for turning over the captured Rebel
Battle Flags was first exposed, and
great storm of indignation swept over
the country, the Democrats of the
North were stricken dumb. They
were in that desperate strait Of un-
certainty which cannot see light ahead,
and gives way to present sorrow. Like
the fabled small boy, they had moth
ing to say It was not long, however,
until the more sensible Democrats be-
gan to mutter about the Presidents
having made mistake Then the
plea gradually crerG in that Cleveland
was not to blame for it at all-and f.
nally the majority of Democrats have
come up to the point Of endorsing
this Infamous action Of the President,
and to uphold him in his brutal con-
duct toward the Union Soldiers. Nat
urally the anger of Mr. Cleveland
turned towards the men who had de-
feated his little scheme, and he actual
ly showed talent enough to write
voluminous letters of complaint
against the Soldiers These were
more completely silly than anything
he had yet accomplished, and, as in
the flag case, the Democracy sought
some satisfactory explanation. I'm
able to find any satisfactory excuse,
they advance the remarkable claim
that the letters Of the President were
written as a shrewd scheme for divid-
ing the G.. A. R., and solidifying the
ranks of the Democracy. The idea of
Cleveland seeing that far ahead, is
where the laugh comes in. Aside from
this point, the scheme would be char
acteristic of him.
Now what is the solution? We
have been censured up this way for
holding up the Bloody Shirt, and sim
iliar charges, yet the Democrats have
given the country abundant evidence
that they have never for moment
forgotten the issue of the war, but
have rather striven to keep them alive.
So far from Cleyeland having any
scheme for breaking up the G.. A. R.,
he had scheme for fighting them on
another line-thet of destroying every
,-,41,n -, ,,oooL 4bo+ oo,,1J
in any way attest the bravery of the
Boys in Blue, Of the defeat or the
Boys in Gray The old, hideous, ven
omous Southern Serpent has been
creeping along all these years, trying
to keep pace with the advanced thought
and rapid progress of the country, and
has lost none of its most detestable
characteristics. By every art known
to treachery it has sought to turn up
on the hand that beat it, and give a
lasting if not fatal sting. Grover
Cleveland was simply tool, in his ef-
forts at fighting the Union Soldiers.
He had been deceived into the belief
that he could be greater than the peo-
pie who elected him, and that the act
of a Chief Magistrate, even though
viciously wrong, would not be a SUBJ
ject Of public denunciation. Unde-
ceived upon this point, the friends of
the Buffalo Nonentity attempt to look
wise, and declare that "the President
is very shrewd." If standing before
the public with label upon his back,
with the legend Kick mel" painted
theron, is an evidence of shrewdness,
then the President is shrewd.
There never was any excuse for
Grover Cleveland's malicious filings at
the Union Soldiers. They were sim
ply the expressions Of the spirit which
piloted John Morgan through Ohio,
and bushwhacked Union men in the
South. 1t was the hiss of the old cop
perhead, so often crushed during the
war, yet which has given an OCCASION
al sign Of life since then. Mr.. Cleve-
lands head was turned by his consum-
ing admiration for the Solid South,
and he was unable to. see beyond the
meager veil of fattery which was
thrown about him. The country is
larger, and the Union Soldiers vastly
more numerous, than he thought.
The sum total of the whole matter is
that Mr.. Cleveland was caught in
some very mean and disreputable con-
duct, and the old boys spoke out rath-
er emphatically concerning it. Now
the pretense is set up that he was
seeking to divide the ranks of the G..
A. r. by getting the Democratic SOL
diers to desert its ranks and join the
fortunes of the Solid South. The G..
A. R. boys are not of the deserting
kind. If the fat man from Buffalo
desires a denomination, it would be a
better show for him as candidate for
Sheriff once more This great Nation
will scarcely try another four years
with a mud man as President.
Last year the Republican party in
Jackson County had a plurality Of
nearly nine hundred on the State
Ticket. the head of the ticket. Robin